PRAGUE QUADRENNIAL 2023

Acts of Re-Assembly: The Re-Build of La Mama Theatre 

Prague Quadrennial 2023

8 – 18 June 2023

Architect Meg White & Helen Hopkins from La Mama’s Committee of Management will be representing La Mama Theatre in ‘Acts of Re-Assembly: The Re-Build of La Mama Theatre’ at the Performance Space Exhibition, National Gallery Prague.

About Prague Quadrennial

Prague Quadrennial is an international theatre design exhibition that has been running since 1967. The Performance Space Exhibition will see the coming together of 35 different architectural works, whilst the festival more broadly attracts more than 8,000 theatre professionals from over 100 countries.

The exhibit engages with the architectural and cultural conditions of the much-loved La Mama Theatre before and after a fire gutted the theatre in 2018.

Artefacts salvaged from the fire will be lovingly presented alongside representations of the architectural restoration and new build. A film, a model, a charred beam, a molten lump of keys, a pendant light, and a book share the story of how a tiny theatre engaged with the opportunity for new growth to build back bigger and stronger.

This exhibition offers a platform to present acts of architecture as a vehicle for engagement, exploration, and proposition. Here, architecture is the agent for regeneration and critical evolution, not resisting the fire event but rather harnessing its destructive power as an opportunity for renewal.

An act of disassembly becomes a driver for reassembly. 

Exhibiting at PQ23 presents the architectural design processes and outcomes of Re-build La Mama on an international stage, offering a platform to celebrate the rebuild as an act of collective will, hope and resilience. 

Offering engagement opportunities with a broader group of theatre practitioners, beyond the strictly architectural, PQ23 will also have a strong contingency from Australia, including Bangarra Dance Company Designer Jacob Nash, plus students from our top Arts Universities, providing opportunities for national exchange in this international setting.   

Our presence at PQ23 serves as a celebration of the achievements of Meg White and her 25 year+ relationship with La Mama and the achievements of the rebuild team, whilst highlighting the resilience and perseverance of La Mama and the wider community to overcome adversity and create opportunity for growth and development after tragedy.